Wednesday, June 22, 2016

"Looking Through Patient Eyes" - PM Dawn
When I read that Attrell Cordes aka Prince Be the Nocturnal, half the brother duo that made up PM Dawn, died, I immediately wanted to pay tribute with a Song of the Week. But I couldn't pick "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss" (SOTW, 5/23/12) because it had already been SOTW.
So it was between this and "Die Without You" and I just happen to like this one a little better. I think it shows off what made them unique, no one was singing songs like this back then.
Prince Be was only 46 when he died, meaning he was only 21, 22, 23 when the group had its greatest success. Sorry the second half of his life didn't work out as well, at least professionally, and sorry 23 years amounts to half his life.

Monday, June 20, 2016

It's been a rough sporting year in the Poop household as the Mets lost the World Series, Syracuse got beaten in the Final Four, the Redskins lost a playoff game at home and now our adopted NBA team, the Golden State Warriors loses a heart-breaking Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
A lot of excitement got us to that point, but all four magical runs ended in disappointment.
Note: I am a Knicks fan. Chase still insists he is a Knicks fan. But Stephen Curry and the Warriors are so much fun to watch, it's a much better introduction to the game of basketball for a young fan than watching the Knicks lose would be.
All season we recorded late night Warriors games and watched them the next day. Throughout the playoffs, I watched the games, recorded them and Chase watched the second half before school.
The boys stayed up to watch Game 7, and ended up going to bed in tears.
A few thoughts:
1) Stephen Curry played like garbage in the Finals, especially during Game 7. It wasn't just his poor shooting, which was his most glaring weakness. It was his lack of urgency and his ball-handling that seemed like it belonged in a February game against Sacramento, not Game 7 of the Finals against LeBron.

I couldn't find any good pictures to prove it but I am pretty sure that Curry's shooting form was off. He used to have perfect form, straight up and down, head over feet. Many times during the playoffs, and especially the Finals he seemed to be shooting while leaning forward. Maybe it's his knee injury, maybe it's fatigue, maybe he just got out of wack, but he just didn't seem right.
2) This game doesn't tarnish the Warriors legacy, much. They are a great team, NBA champs, 73 wins, return trip to the Finals. A couple more years of this and they're right up there with the Jordan Bulls, Russell Celtics, Wilt Lakers as the best teams of all time.
3) It does tarnish Curry's legacy. He came up small in the biggest game of his career. And he wasn't so great in last year's Finals, either.
4) It absolutely does cement LeBron's legacy. He has 3 NBA titles, six straight years in the Finals, and he made a legendary all-time play with his block on Iguodala to preserve the game. He is definitely in the top 5 all-time with Jordan, Magic, Russell and Wilt.

5) I guess I'm the only one who roots for these long championship droughts to continue. I like it, it adds an extra story line and drama. Now no one cares when the Red Sox are in the World Series. And who really cares about San Diego as a loser city, they only have two teams and nice weather. Having Cleveland and their near misses to talk about made it interesting whenever they got close.